Regarding lightsabers, that's a bit grey nowadays tbh since you've got the Tapani exiles of [insert unspecified date] who brought not only the human slave stock but reintroduced lightsabers too -- accounting for the ones in Lost Tribe, Crosscurrent, etc, circa. 5000 BBY. So these days it seems less that Naga Sadow et al couldn't have had one, and simply that they chose not to.

So Hord might just have been an exception who wanted to get back in touch with his Jedi roots.

"Ooh! Tapani with new crystals! YAAAY!! I can be the first Dark Lord in millennia to wield one of the old weapons! Wooooo!!"

Then Marka Ragnos rolled his eyes and decided the Empire needed to be a bit more conservative and not run around warmongering and risking discovery.

The Tapani arrived in Sith Space in 8000 BBY, btw, according to the Atlas.

I also assume lightsabers went out of fashion. The Tapani were the ones who figured out how to build lightsabers without power chords though, according to Tribe. A very least, all the other evidence points towards Hord not being around in 5300 BBY.

The majority of the Sith have forgotten the Jedi and Republic in 5000 BBY.

Hord's Dashade was in stasis for millennia by 3600 BBY. Not just one and a bit.

Hord used a lightsaber and the Dark Lords did not by 5000 BBY.

Kallig, Hord's rival, learned lightsaber drills at the Sith Academy.

Oooooh, more importantly...

Page 152 of the Encyclopedia... Under Force Spirits.

'Impressed by the powerful Force spirits, Sith Lord Ergast developed a Force-walking ritual thousands of years ago to absorb restless spirits of the dead and feed off their incredible hunger.'

Ergast must have resettled Dromund Kaas after it was lost again (again). Thousands of years pre-ToR is not 4980 BBY...

The Jedi and Republic DO know about the Sith in 5000 BBY, the knowledge is just not public! Wasn't there one panel of their ships in orbit during their first onslaught and a Jedi or Republic character, forgot who, said something about the SITH attacking? How could he have known then?

Lightsabers might be rare in Sith Space, only because majority does not use it does not mean nobody does.

Regarding lightsabers, that's a bit grey nowadays tbh since you've got the Tapani exiles of [insert unspecified date] who brought not only the human slave stock but reintroduced lightsabers too -- accounting for the ones in Lost Tribe, Crosscurrent, etc, circa. 5000 BBY. So these days it seems less that Naga Sadow et al couldn't have had one, and simply that they chose not to.

So Hord might just have been an exception who wanted to get back in touch with his Jedi roots.

"Ooh! Tapani with new crystals! YAAAY!! I can be the first Dark Lord in millennia to wield one of the old weapons! Wooooo!!"

Then Marka Ragnos rolled his eyes and decided the Empire needed to be a bit more conservative and not run around warmongering and risking discovery.

The Tapani arrived in Sith Space in 8000 BBY, btw, according to the Atlas.

I also assume lightsabers went out of fashion. The Tapani were the ones who figured out how to build lightsabers without power chords though, according to Tribe. A very least, all the other evidence points towards Hord not being around in 5300 BBY.

so... does the lightsabers getting out of fashion and Tapani reinventing them have anything to do with humans taking over with lightsabers giving the lower class the advantage against the red sith or crossbreeds?